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New Developments

March 30, 2015
According to a new report from CBRE Research, annual tenant demand, as measured by net absorption, totaled 52.7 million square feet (4.9 million sq m) in 2014—the highest annual amount since 2007.

March 30, 2015
Fueled by strong expansion among life science companies, the two major pure-play life science real estate investment trusts (REITs) are expanding their portfolios through both acquisitions and new development, with earnings that reflect the benefits of this growth.

Decentralized spatial urban planning, rather than walkability, is the most effective tool for building healthy cities, says the chief executive officer of Europe’s largest inner-city development project.

Disruptive forces created by climate change represent the “new normal” for the real estate industry and cities worldwide, posing “huge risks” to those not adequately preparing for it, warned a panel of experts at the ULI Europe Annual Conference in Paris in early February.

New Developments

March 30, 2015
According to a new report from CBRE Research, annual tenant demand, as measured by net absorption, totaled 52.7 million square feet (4.9 million sq m) in 2014—the highest annual amount since 2007.

March 30, 2015
Fueled by strong expansion among life science companies, the two major pure-play life science real estate investment trusts (REITs) are expanding their portfolios through both acquisitions and new development, with earnings that reflect the benefits of this growth.

The Urban Land Institute, with the support of the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, has launched How Housing Matters, an interdisciplinary online portal focused on housing’s role in individual and neighborhood well-being.

Recent Articles

Last fall, William Fulton, a former mayor and planner by training, left Southern California to take a new position at the Kinder Institute for Urban Research at Rice University in Houston. Leveraging Rice’s strengths in computer science, architecture, civil engineering, and other disciplines, Fulton hopes to establish the leading urban think tank in the Sun Belt.

Fueled by strong expansion among life science companies, the two major pure-play life science real estate investment trusts (REITs) are expanding their portfolios through both acquisitions and new development, with earnings that reflect the benefits of this growth.

The Crimean Embankment, a 4.5-acre (1.8 ha) site, was fully pedestrianized just over a year ago. Not long ago, this sort of public space was hard to imagine anywhere in Moscow. Mayor Sergei Sobyanin is intent on changing this—and making over this 0.6-mile (1 km) stretch of riverfront is just the beginning.

Between 2000 and 2012, the number of jobs within the typical commute distance for residents in a major metro area fell by 7 percent, according to new research by the Brookings Institution’s Metropolitan Policy Program.

News of plunging February housing starts in the United States prompts a look at timber real estate investment trusts (REITs). Timber REIT performance is closely tied to timber production and prices, as well as to construction and exports. Plus, interest rate survey results from Trepp.

In the past decade, there has been a shift in the types of diseases affecting populations around the world, particularly in the more developed world. This shift requires new approaches to human health that extend beyond formal health care systems and include the built environment, says Sir Malcolm Grant, chairman of the National Health Service in England.

This is an excerpt from ULI’s book, Visionaries in Urban Development, which profiles the first 15 years of the ULI J.C. Nichols prize, the Institute’s highest honor. The 2014 honoree is Dr. Judith Rodin.

Rik Kirkland, director of publishing and principal at consultancy McKinsey & Co., believes that one story has the potential to “change everything” between now and the year 2100. Speaking at ULI’s Midwinter Meeting in Paris, Kirkland said, “The biggest story unfolding around us today is we’re witnessing the dawn of the era of machine learning and artificial intelligence.”

The movement of capital from East to West is likely to remain the major influence on real estate markets in 2015, according to Global Emerging Trends in Real Estate® 2015, a summary report of all three Emerging Trends in Real Estate reports reflecting global real estate investor sentiment, published jointly by PwC and the Urban Land Institute.

ULI Boston/New England recently published a report, The Urban Implications of Living with Water, drawn from a charrette charged with exploring strategies for dealing with the effects of rising sea levels. It addresses four areas of Boston: the historic Back Bay neighborhood, Revere Beach, the Alewife Quadrangle, and the Innovation District.

Development strategies that can improve health outcomes—such as providing protected bikeways, minimizing noise pollution, and offering amenities such as community gardens—are highlighted in a new publication from the Urban Land Institute, the Building Healthy Places Toolkit: Strategies for Enhancing Health in the Built Environment.

Google has announced plans to add approximately 1.1 million square feet to the existing 2 million square feet of office space at the company’s corporate headquarters in Mountain View, California, in collaboration with architects BIG and Heatherwick Studio.